Brussels, 17/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - Cyber-security must not be used as an excuse for the unlimited monitoring and analysis of the personal information of individuals, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) said on Monday 17 June, in his opinion on the EU's cyber-security strategy.
Although it rightly acknowledges the importance of data protection principles for a robust cyber-security policy, the strategy “is not clear on how these principles will be applied in practice to reinforce the security of individuals, industry, government and other organisations”, the EDPS explains in a press release.
The overall aim of the EU strategy is to make the use of the internet safer by enabling organisations in the EU countries to prevent and respond to cyber disruption and attack. However, the Commission's communication “fails to take due account of the role of data protection law and of current EU proposals in promoting cyber-security, such as the proposed Data Protection Regulation and the eTrust regulation”, the EDPS argues. He goes on to state that the communication does not take into account the importance of factoring in data protection at the inception of any system that contributes to cyber-security - privacy by design. “The result is that the strategy is not as effective and comprehensive as the Commission intends it to be”, according to the EDPS. (LC/transl.fl)